What Can The Storm Reveal?
by 0Anonim0
Summary: Blu gets carried away and injured in the storm and meets mysterious macaw. Will he (or maybe she?) help him to come back to his home? And what is with the past that the macaw hides?
1. The Storm

It was an early morning in the Amazon Jungle. Almost everyone was sleeping. Almost - except for a certain Spix's Macaw named Blu, who was already up - he couldn't fall asleep and decided to start the day earlier than usual.

He carefully escaped Jewel's embrace; he didn't want to wake her up that early. He left the leafy bed and stretched his limbs, yawning loudly. Blu then walked in the direction of the hollow entrance, and looked into the sky. It was covered in plenty of clouds; some of them dark, what obviously foreshadowed the approaching storm. After seeing the position of the sun, the avian's mind quickly calculated the approximate hour - surely it was about six in the morning.

Blu exchanged last look with the sleeping forms of his three children and his mate, and without hesitation, he took off into the sky to gather fruit for breakfast. Flying through the canyon, in which the Spix's tribe was located, he wandered from tree to tree, seeing that almost noone has woken up yet. The only person he saw was - of course - the leader of the tribe and his father-in-law, Eduardo, flying around and making sure that everything was okay. The older macaw joined him in the air and spoke:

"Good morning, Blu. What happens that you got up so early?"

"Oh, nothing, sir. Just couldn't sleep, that's all." he smiled.

"I see. Sorry Blu, but I must to continue my duty. See you later!"

He flew away and Blu continued his flight to the brazil nut grove and began thinking about how life takes drastic turns - one day he was just living peacefully in Minnesota, the next he was sent to Rio, where his life has changed forever. Additionally, he ended up in the Amazon Jungle - dangerous and beautifully astonishing place, where even his father-in-law finally accepted him and they soon became close family. It was about more than a year from the logger incident. Blu, Jewel and the kids have been living a happy life, and everything in the Amazon could not get any better.

After about twenty minutes of flying - mostly alongside the Amazon River - he reached his destination. As he thought, the grove was basically empty - noone, except for himself, was here. He swerved slowly amongst many trees, searching for perfect nuts for his family. However, just as he saw some nuts grown closely on a thin branch and stopped in midair just to reach for it, a loud distant thunder could be heard.

"Huh. I must hurry if I want to come back before the rain starts to fall." he landed on thicker branch and approached the nuts. Afterwards, he took aim on the branch above, and - with one swing of his powerful beak - he cut the branch in the perfect place, what somehow allowed his talons to get the best grip on it. Just when Blu took off and grew apart from the tree, the storm has started.

Flying through the rain, the macaw felt that the cloudburst was becoming stronger and stronger with every minute. As he went through the downpour, he noticed that his flying abilities have decreased dramatically, due to the rain dampening his feathers and the wind. Unfortunately, he has lost his track - he perfectly knew, where the route to the Brazil nut grove was, but after some time he found himself in completely unfamiliar to him place.. He decided to stop in a nearly hollow. Luckily, he found one immediately on the first tree he has landed on.

 _Meanwhile..._

 _"Blu.. mmm.."_ Jewel muttered in her sleep, snuggling with a bunch of leaves. Suddenly a lightning bolt struck nearby and she has suddenly woken up. She has lifted up upper part of her body from bed and leaned on her wings. Then, she looked to the back of the hollow to see her three children still in their slumber. "Blu?" She asked. However, she noticed that Blu doubtlessly was not in here. She got up and made the bed for the next night by repositioning the messed leaves. As she ended, Jewel started wondering why her mate had got up so early. She looked through the hollow entrance in the direction of sun rising through the rain and said:

"Well well well, Blu has a lot of explaining to do when he will come back." she sighed and went to wake up her children.

 _A couple of kilometers away..._

Blu has been waiting in the uninhabited hollow for nearly thirty minutes. The rainfall has slowed down a little, so he grabbed the Brazil nuts and started trying to find the way back home.

"Hmm, I can swear that I have seen that tree several times before.." he said whilst rubbing his wingtip against his lower beak. He has flown for about half an hour now and flying through the rain was quite tiring, so he called his getting-out-of-the-hollow reckless and started to regret it a bit.

Unfortunately, it started raining harder, causing Blu to lower his altitude - he was now manoeuvreing between trees, barely avoiding them while the storm was getting stronger and stronger. Even fog started to appear; highly decreasing yet poor visiblity. Blu stopped circling a good while ago, and now he was flying away in the opposite direction - becoming distant from the tribe. Rain and fog mixed so strongly that he almost couldn't see what was in front of him. The bird was flying for a while like that, but after a moment - in the result - Blu did not notice that he was flying directly into a tree..

 _Crack!_ Was the last sound he heard, and he fell down to the jungle floor. He tried to cry for help, but the last thing his sub-conscious mind has registered was only paralysing pain in his right wing and a foggy silhouette coming towards him.

 **After a year of reading, I decided to materialize an idea that moved around my mind for a while. I'm sorry for any mistakes and/or bad English - geez, I'm only 15 and it's my first attempt to write anything in English besides the ~100 words long letters in the school :P**


	2. Many Questions?

Jewel still stared at the sky, staying in front of the hollow entrance. She had been waiting for nearly an hour for now; constantly wondering what was Blu doing. The storm has started retreating At the opposite side of the hollow, Carla was listening to music, while Tiago was lying on his nest, looking at the ceiling. They were distracted enough that they haven't even noticed Bia, who walked over to their mother.

"Mom?" she said. "Do you think that something happened to him? Dad doesn't seem to be sneaking out very often."

"I don't know, Bia. As you know, he usually keeps snoring to forenoon, so I'm going to ask your Pop-Pop if he has seen him," After these words, Jewel has spread her wings wide and with a quick beat she took off, heading in the direction of her father's hollow.

He was nowhere to be seen, but after some time flying around the tribe, she has spotted him and Roberto on the platform formed from two branches grown together. They were probably checking the tribe and discussing about the damages done by the storm that has passed a while ago. They have exchanged their greetings and continued the talk, but Jewel has threw in:

"Dad, have you seen Blu today?"

"Yes, he was unusually early that morning. He was flying to the Brazil nut grove, probably to collect some food. Just before the tempest has stated. And why are you asking?"

"Dad.. he hasn't come back yet." she said with a cracked voice, her wings covering her cheeks.

* * *

All Blu could see was darkness. Finally, after hours of being passed out, his mind has started to work, but his body not. He tried to open his eyes, but his muscles didn't obey. At last, he raised his limp eyelids and saw wooden ceiling - immediately guessing, that he indeed was in a hollow. He blinked and tried to move a bit, but the bird without delay felt immense pain in his right wing, following to the right part of his ribcage.

The Spix's has moved his head a bit, just to scan his surroundings. He saw that he was in a comfortable nest, wrapped in some leaves - but he let out a small yelp, when he saw that the leaves covering his wing were partially soiled with his dried blood.

 _"Great. I'm injured and grouned. Oh, Blu, what are you going to do? What are.. Jewel and the kids.. thinking? Will they let out a search rescue to find me?_ " He thought. So many questions, so few answers.. He was in an unfamiliar hollow, injured, flightless. As if all that weren't enough, if one of his wounds got infected, he could probably die, just because he could not even come out from the nest, let alone going to the Amazon Sanctuary for treatment..

* * *

Eduardo has already completed the search-party group with the best tribe members and trackers he had, while Mimi was trying to comfort Jewel in her hollow.

"Aunt Mimi.. What if _*sniff*_ something bad has _*sniff*_ happened to him? Like, he has been attacked by a predator, or he was carried away by the wind, or.. or..." she was then suddenly interrupted by Mimi, who has hugged her softly and said:

"Jewel, don't worry. He will be fine. I swear. He surely knows how to take care of himself."

They were sitting in the dark corner of the hollow and haven't seen that Bia, Carla and Tiago were sneaking into it. The trio has approached their mother and Tiago said in a serious tone:

"Mom? We know that something happened to dad, but I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned for."

They have all hugged, causing Mimi to form a smile on her beak. Afterwards, she has quietly left the hollow, leaving them alone.

* * *

Blu has been left alone with his thoughts for quite time now. He started wondering if someone was living in that hollow, just when he heard sound of a heavy wingbeats outside and something landed on the branch not so far away. The macaw gulped loudly.

"Looks like the sleeping beauty has woken up," a strong, loud feminine voice echoed in the hollow. Blu turned his head a bit, trying to look at the entrance. He saw a tall, light-feathered female Spix's Macaw, with a light-grey talons and beak. She had a white markings around her lower beak and neck. The ends of several feathers on the back of her head were pointing up, and she was indeed about the same age Eduardo was.

She was carrying two mangoes in her talons. Blu looked at them, and then at her. Suddenly she spoke:

"They are quite rare here, aren't they?" she said, placing the mangoes in front of the nest Blu was lying in. She immediately started to slice one of them using her claws, and noticed that Blu was staring at her.

"What? Are you speechless or something? Maybe you have bit your tongue at the fall?" she spoke, starting to eat a piece of mango. Blu has cleared his throat and said hoarsely:

"What happened?"

She rolled her eyes and said: "Ahhh. You aren't a fast thinker. You've crashed into a tree."


	3. Painful Consequences

Blu stared continuously at the wall in front of him. The mysterious macaw has just finished eating and grabbed the leftovers, putting them into a leaf. She then looked up at Blu, who hasn't even touched his mango.

"Are you okay?" She said in a puzzled tone, what pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Oh" he said, surprised by her sudden question. "No, just.. thinking about things." He then took a deep breath and tried to get up, but even with the biggest labour, he could only lift his torso a bit, feeling pain in his right, damaged side.

"Um.. Maybe you want me to help you a bit?.." The female asked, looking at Blu and his fruitless efforts in getting up.

"No, no, I don't need any help." He said, after what she frowned and continued looking at him patiently, giggling a bit.

* * *

Jewel sat in her hollow, looking at the sky. Essentially she did not do anything besides that - only when from time to time a macaw (or a group) was flying through the cerulean airspace of the Amazon, she just followed her gaze after them, thinking about past events and of course Blu, in particular.

Bia has gone with her friend to study the insects of the Amazon, Tiago was just hanging around with his friends, while Carla was spending the day with Roberto's mate - they had a lot in common, for example they both enjoyed singing, so they were hanging out together very often.

Jewel was left alone with her thoughts, when a familiar silhouette appeared on the horizon, no doubt that it was heading in the direction of Blu and Jewel's tree. Later on, she noticed that it was Roberto, carrying something in his talons. He was flying too fast - Jewel leaned back in the last moment before he burst into the hollow, braking the rest of his momentum on the wooden wall.

"Ju-Ju! You have to see this!" He said, raising his head from the floor, still lying on the on his back. After a quick moment he stood before Jewel, handing her two blue feathers. Basing on the shade of them, they were indeed Blu's.

Jewel stood astonished, with her beak hanging open. After a while, she has shut it and quickly said:

"Where have you found them?"

"About forty minutes of flying North-East from the tribe. You have to see it." Roberto said in a serious tone. They have walked into the outside and after a moment they were flying to the place where Blu's trail has been found.

* * *

Back in the female macaw's hollow, Blu was still trying to get up. It was getting funnier with every next attempt, so the macaw decided to end it.

"Wait! No! Don't you see that I almost succeeded?!" Blu shouted, just before she helped him to sit down in the nest by pushing her wings on his back. With some trouble she set him on the edge of the nest.

"You are quite heavy, I must say." she said panting heavily. After a moment she took the second, untouched mango and started to slice it. She then took one piece of it and handed it to Blu, who grabbed it using his good wing and inserted it into his beak, muttering something under his breath.

The mango disappeared surprisingly fast. Blu was eating it so fast that he haven't noticed that half of his face was being covered in a mango juice, recolouring the feathers on his cheeks - they were orange now. The female macaw started to giggle at it.

"What?" Blu asked in an intrigued tone.

"You better see your face, if I saw you for the first time I would swear that I've discovered a new species" she replied, still chuckling.

"Haha, very funny." he said with an abashed voice.

"Yeah, sure it was." she turned back from him. "I will clean up that mess and bring some water so you can clean yourself. Just wait here." she then pushed what was left from the second fruit into the leaf, grabbed it with her talons and flew out of the hollow.

After about a quarter, she has returned with something that looked like a half of an opened nut. It was filled with water. She placed it in front of Blu, who started washing himself.

"We haven't had any time to talk. We haven't even introduced ourselves - maybe I will start? I'm Blu. And what's your name?"

She stopped and looked at the wall for a while. "My name is.. Crystal." She said with a mysterious depth within her voice. Blu was quite smart, so he noticed it, but she haven't realised that he had.

"When you finish, I think it's the time to check and tend your injuries," she said suddenly.

"Wait, you say that you haven't done it yet? When I was unconscious?" Blu gulped, perfectly knowing what was going to happen.

"Of course, when did I have the time to do it? I only stopped your bleeding."

Blu didn't say anything more. After a while he ended cleaning himself, so he drank up the rest of the fluid that filled the nut. He didn't realize that she was watching him patiently, and he heard a respond after a while:

"Wow, you must be really thirsty."

"I haven't drank anything since yesterday. Anyways, I have finished." he stated.

When he put the nut away, she pushed it back to the edge of the hollow. She approached Blu and started to rip off the leaves that covered his injuries. Crystal flinched a bit when she saw the wound on Blu's right wing. Blu looked at it and flinched too.

"Oh, no! How are we going to treat it? What if I will never fly again?!" he shouted.

"Don't panic." She tried to reassure him, but that barely worked. "Can I touch?" She asked, causing Blu to calm down.

"Um.. yes?" Blu said, sounding worried. She had touched his wing, what caused Blu to squawk in pain and back away.

"According to my medical expierience, or - if you better call it - lack of it, I can say that it's broken or highly sprained in the best option,"

"And what do we do now?"

"One thing is for sure - we must set the broken bones into their correct places.." she said sheepishly, after what Blu gulped loudly and started to back away.


	4. This will hurt a bit

Roberto and Jewel had been flying for a quite while, when they finally started to reach the place. At one point Roberto lowered his flight a bit and started to disappear between upper branches of the trees - Jewel quickly followed him. Soon they have been manoeuvreing among many trees when Roberto suddenly stopped, causing Jewel to almost crash into his back.

"Hey! Watch where are you stopping!" She shouted, while hovering in midair. Roberto, however, haven't paid much attention to her and flew away, landing on the ground in front of a tree trunk. Of course, Jewel followed him - muttering something about his behaviour, but she paused when she saw something that looked like a crash-landing site.

Some of the birds from the search party were around the area, probably collecting the traces. But she didn't care. There was a pit in the ground - it's dimensions perfectly matching a macaw's size, it was probably made by something that has fell from above, marking simultaneously itself on the wet mud. A dried bloodstains marked the soil of the pit's right side.

When looking upwards, some of the thinner branches have been broken, with their endings being - mostly - sharp edges, that could easily rip an unlucky fellow's skin.

But it wasn't what terrified Jewel mostly. There was something even worse - many blue feathers were lying around. They were mainly over the pit, but some were still hanging from the branches, while the rest of them was sprawled on something that looked like a trace of someone dragging something away.. The most terrifying was the fact that the trail ended after about one meter. It didn't cause any doubts that a sort of bird has tried to drag Blu away, and after a while it has abandoned that idea, grabbing (probably unconscious) Blu and flying with him from the place.

Roberto was watching the scene, when Jewel suddenly grabbed some of the feathers from the ground with her wings, clutching them to her chest. She fell to her knees, closed her eyes and started sobbing, leaning back. She almost crashed into the ground, but Roberto caught her in the last moment.

* * *

 _"And what do we do now?"_

 _"One thing is for sure - we must set the broken bones into their correct places.."_

"What?!" Blu cried, clumsily walking back, though he was still weak.

"Didn't you hear? We must make sure that your wing will heal properly, or you will probably never fly again." She stated.

"I don't need to fly, I can walk. I was flightless for the most of my life, so I can be okay with it for the rest!" He yelled in a fearful voice.

Crystal didn't say anything more and just started walking towards Blu, who was still backing away, terrified expression all over his face. Soon he felt cold, wooden wall on his back and tried to sneak to the hollow exit, but he stumbled over his own legs and fell face-first to the floor, squawking in pain.

The female used her advantage and landed softly on his back, pinning his throat to the floor with her talons. He tried to struggle free, but without any avail.

"Listen to me, Blu. I'm doing it only for your best." She grabbed a vine from the wall and tied him up. Blu was still wriggling, trying to get himself free, but he lost the hope entirely and stopped. He lied on his left side, only using his right eye to peer at Crystal, who was still tying him. She then turned him - he was now lying on his back, and she spread his right wing open, causing him to cry in pain.

"Aargh! No!" Blu screamed squawking frantically, while she examined his wing. It was swollen so much that when she moved some feathers to reveal the wound, the bones were barely visible through the skin. She blenched in disgust.

"Uhh," Blu gulped. "What.. can.. you.. see?" He said, smiling nervously.

"As I said before, we must set.. the joint.." She said, not sure if she could manage to do it. "Wait a while, I will come back soon." The female macaw then left the hollow. Blu only closed his eyes and shook his head, fearing that the worst will happen soon.

After a moment, Crystal has come back with a leaf and several herbs. The leaf was curved lengthwise, so Blu found out easily that it was indeed filled with water.

Crystal grabbed some of Blu's wing feathers with her beak and plucked them out to get more clear image of the damage, of course leaving Blu in pain. She then took one of the herbs, soaked it in water and carefully washed his wound, doing the same with the rest of his wing - he was still partially covered in mud.

It had tickled Blu several times and he tried to fold his wing a little, but she refused and caught the undamaged, first part of his limb - at what Blu cringed a bit.

When she had ended cleaning the wound, she used a liana to tie up the first part of his wing - to prevent him from moving it. The female grinned and Blu gulped, knowing what was going to happen next.

"Okay. I will now count from ten to one. You can hold your breath, maybe it will ease your pain." she said.

But Blu started to breathe rapidly, looking like he was going to faint. "Ten."

"Do you think that it will help? I'm starting to get concerned about it," he said nervously.

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Six."

"Five."

She then grabbed both parts of his wing - the undamaged in her left wing, the damaged in her right.

"Maybe other time?" Blu said wriggling a bit, desperately trying to get himself out of this painful situation.

"Four."

"Three."

"Two." Blu then gulped loudly, closed his eyes and shook his head, crying _"No!"_ in his mind.

"One."

The female aimed and using all her strength moved her wings simultaneously, but in opposite directions.

 _Crack._


	5. Finally

"Aaaaaaaaaargh!" Blu screamed, writhing in pain. "Do you find it pleasuring to see me in agony?!" He mumbled through his closed beak, looking at her with one eye.

"Shh." She said without even looking at him. Crystal looked at his wing, this time more closely - it seemed almost perfect, but there was still a small roughness - that caused the wing's leading edge to be a little crooked, what could affect Blu's ability to fly later. She decided to give it one more try.

"I'm sorry, but I still need to correct it a bit."

* * *

"Pérez, did you hear that?" One of the macaws that were investigating the area said, curious after hearing the distant, yet still hearable sound. The source was too far to localize it, though.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you the same. It was like a.." He tapped his wingtip against the lower part of his beak. "..scream? But I'm not sure where it came from." Pérez replied, disappointed - if they only could know what or who had made the sound.. It could be even the next trace, something that would enliven the search..

But others seemed to notice that too - obviously except for Jewel, who was still sobbing. Eduardo needed to take care of the tribe, so Roberto was leading the search-party group. He quickly convened the group into one place; he carefully set Jewel on the ground and the macaws formed a circle around him.

"Guys, did you hear that scream?" He said, while others nodded their heads in response. "Great, now I want you to find the source of it." Roberto stated, but he heard some voices of opposition.

"But we just don't know where to seek for it, it was too far!" One of the macaws said, having bewildered look on his face.

The leader only shot him a threatening glance. "It's your job." he said.

The birds then took off, every in different direction.

* * *

"I did it! I did it! It's perfect, just like new. Almost, of course." She said, while lifting up her wings high in the air, as an act of happiness. "Fine, we just need to clean it one more time and put the leafy bandage on." The female stated. She started to untie Blu's wing. He had felt that his limb was finally free and moved it a bit, still having the feeling like something was squeezing the muscles around the injury.

"Is it the end?" Blu muttered, a soft tear forming in the corner of his eye.

"Looks like yes, captain obvious." She said jokingly.

"Teasing with you is the last important thing right now." Blu said, while slowly lifting his eyelids and panting heavily. The pain started easing a bit, though Blu was screaming in agony about two minutes ago.

The edge of his wing was finally straight. It's surface was perfectly smooth, well - at least - it was still swollen, and thanks to Crystal's so-called medical abilities it had swelled more.

When she had untied Blu entirely, he sat up on the floor, still panting. He looked at the 'healer' and then at his own wing. He was surprised by the result of her work - he has recalled the blurry image of his crooked limb and became shocked by the though about how damaged it was, or - how reckless was he, while trying to escape. He thought about the consequences of letting his wing heal in that state and immediately called himself a dumb.

Meanwhile, Crystal had come for some fresh water - the liquid that was left from cleaning the wound for the first time was mixed with blood and dirt. It has no use; it could only infect his wound, what would surely end with Blu getting a sepsis and dying quickly.

The female was flying with an old leaf wrapped in her talons. She was flying to the Amazon River - when she has reached it, she left the leaf from her grip and it landed in water. A bloody stain and a leaf were now flowing down the river, what caused some piranhas to reach for it, in hope of getting food.

She has been flying alongside the coastline, looking down at the tiny trees that were passing quickly, because of her high flying speed. She was let alone with her thoughts for one more time, thinking about the past. She had done it for uncountable times since that.. so-called accident, which took her away from her family.

Blu was the first individual that she has met for years. Crystal has been marked by loneliness for about 15 years, desperately trying to come back to her home, but without any success. Doing that for countless time has burned up every hope she had, and soon she accepted the fact that she will never meet her loved ones again.

But Blu has changed anything - he must have come from somewhere, somewhere where the others could be.. He hasn't mentioned anything about his family, or even if there are more of their species, other than.. the tribe, which was entirely gone for long.

Crystal has come to the conclusion - if Blu has to tell anything about him, she needs to reveal her past too. But what if it was worthless? What if Blu was the same loner she was?

She had shaken off that thoughts quickly, when she has reached the point where a small waterfall and a pond with fresh water was. She wouldn't take the water from the Amazon, especially if she was going to use it in situation like this. The river's water was a mixture of everything - only a thought about it had made her form a disgusted expression on her face.

She headed to the pond and dived into the green surface of trees' upper branches through small hole between leaves. Suddenly everything has darkened a bit - it was natural that a dense forest won't allow much light to reach the jungle floor, leaving the smaller plants virtually without hope.

As she was carefully flying between the trees, it was getting brighter and brighter. Soon, she saw the shore of a small lake. The bird stopped in midair and looked around for a perfect leaf. She circled many plants and herbs, searching for something that would have a space for enough amount of water.

Suddenly she found herself in front of an ivy, growing around a big tree trunk. After a while the bird has found a big leaf that was slightly curved to the end. She hovered in midair in front of it and tried to reach for it with her talons, but the macaw didn't succeed. Crystal hopped to a branch above and reached it with her beak, hanging upside down.

She has plucked it and quickly filled with water from the pond. She knew that Blu was waiting for her, so she decided not to waste any more time. She grabbed the leaf using both her claws and made sure that it won't fall. The Spix's spread her wings open and - with one powerful flap - she took off into the air.

In the way back, she was flying almost in the straight line. She also took some fresh herbs, which would surely help. The sun was low and its rays filled the Amazonian sky, recolouring it into a smooth, amber shade. She crossed the Amazon River and glanced at her own silhouette and the setting sun, both being reflected in the water. The macaw lowered her flight a bit and disappeared between the trees, heading to her hollow.

Soon the tree appeared in her sight. Crystal landed on the branch that was in front of the hollow entrance - it made a sort of platform to land on. She entered the hollow and spotted Blu sitting on the edge of the nest.

"What took you so long?" He asked suspiciously.

"Totally not your business." She replied, smiling widely.

Blu didn't reply; he only gulped and looked at the female, who went to the edge of the hollow, where a deformation in the hollow wall was, forming some sort of ledge to sit on. She then carefully placed the herbs and the leaf filled with water next to that 'ledge', looking at Blu. He understood what was she meaning and walked over to her. He sat down on the ledge and extended his injured wing.

The adrenaline effect has faded away a long time ago, so Blu has been feeling a strong pain in his wing. However, the female macaw has took one of the herbs and soaked it with water. She started cleaning his wound again, causing him to feel a cool, pleasant sensation encompassing his right wing.

She cleaned his wound delicately, using the mixture from herbs and water. When she ended, she wiped the wound from remaining liquid and bandaged it using the last herbaceous plants she had.

Crystal has come for a fresh water again, this time she was going to get it that Blu could clean himself entirely - from the mud that covered the rest of his body. When she came back to the hollow, it was dark and the night has fallen already. Afterwards, Blu preened himself, using some water in the process.

Both birds went to sleep. Blu was snoring loudly after a moment; Crystal wasn't sleeping, however. She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. She perfectly knew that Blu was grounded and needed to stay here for at least a week or even maybe two, so she will have the time to ask him about everything.

"The very next day.." she whispered quietly, glancing at the night sky through the hollow entrance. The macaw closed her eyes and her mind started drifting away into the peaceful slumber..


	6. A next problem

It was an early morning and the sun began to rise and shine from the horizon, thereby awakening the creatures that inhabited the Amazon Jungle.

In one of the darkest, less-populated parts of the forest, where the birds' singing could not be heard, two certain Spix Macaws were sleeping peacefully in a small hollow located high in the branches, within a tree.

Inside, Crystal - who was in possesion of this hollow - was sleeping on a fastly-built nest, made from several sticks and leaves messily grouped together.

On the other side of this 'room', Blu was snoring loudly. He has been sleeping off the previous events, though his sleep was ceased several times, due to the recurring pain in his right wing.

When the sunrays peeked through the hollow entrance and started lighting the female's face, she twitched in her sleep and crinkled her eyelids, turning right to face the hollow's wall. However, the sun started warming up her back, what somehow forced her to get up.

She turned to her previous position and opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling. She sat down on the edge of her pretended nest and rubbed her eyes. After blinking a few times, her vision changed from blurry to the normal one and she noticed that Blu was still snoring loudly.

Crystal got up and stretched her wings, walking towards Blu. When she had approached him, he was turned to the hollow wall and a small droplet of saliva was hanging off from the edge of his opened beak, what she found absolutely disgusting.

He has been sleeping in a position which allowed her to get a clear look of his damaged wing. She has extended it, what caused Blu to twitch a little, but fortunately this action hasn't woken him up.

She examined the wound after slightly moving back his bandage. It was sure that his wing was less swollen after only one night, indeed. Probably due to the herbs that she used; but it wasn't important right now.

As she was examining his limb, she hasn't noticed that Blu has closed his beak and turned in his sleep, his face in direction of the ceiling. While she was putting the bandage on, she has accidentally tickled him, causing Blu to wake up.

"What are you doing?" He said after clearing his throat, when he saw that she was holding his wing in both of hers.

"Well, um.. Just examining your wound, nothing more." She said, her cheeks turning red a little. She immediately released Blu's wing from her grasp. His wing fell down limply, landing on his chest. He clenched his beak in pain and let out a small yelp.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" She shouted.

"I know, but don't panic, please." He quickly cut her off.

She stopped and looked at him, backing away a little. Blu then has got up and he rubbed his eyes, yawning loudly. When he ended doing this, he spotted that Crystal has been staying in front of the hollow entrance, looking at the surrounding trees.

"I will go get some nuts for breakfast, if you don't mind." She stated without turning to face him.

"Okay." Blu replied, sounding a little bit unsure.

She walked to the branch outside and quickly took off. When she disappeared in the leafy blanket that the trees made, Blu had walked deeper into the hollow and darted at the nest, causing many of the blue feathers from the nest to hover in the air.

* * *

The search was unsuccesful. The group has investigated an area of several square kilometers, but without any avail. When the sunset has begun, everyone agreed to pause and start again from the early morning tomorrow.

Jewel stayed at her home, having a better mood - thanks to her family, who had comforted her in this hard situation.

As they agreed before, they have started searching from the early morning - but in a bigger group; now they had a bigger territory to search on. However, they couldn't find anything - even a single feather, what obviously affected the group's morale.

Blu was waiting in the nest, looking at the ceiling and thinking about things.  
"What does Jewel think?" he thought, but he was suddenly cut off by a soung of fast wingbeats.

He clumsily walked to the edge of the hollow and looked down. He spotted a blue bird, indeed a male Spix's Macaw, flying at a low altitude. He was searching for something - he looked like he was scanning the surroundings. Blu didn't recognise the silhouette as any familiar one, but he was somewhat sure that he has seen him sometime before. The macaw quickly disappeared before Blu has fulfilled his curiosity, so he shrugged his wings and walked away.

* * *

Crystal was flying through the dense forest, nearly avoiding the trees. After a while she landed on a Brazil Nut tree, searching for some nuts that would be big enough for breakfast. She spotted some hanging from a branch. The macaw has bitten the branch and it cracked, the part that contained the nuts was left in her beak.

She flew away in the direction of her home, being very careful - she didn't want the nuts to fall down. As the bird continued flying the same path as before, she finally saw the tree that contained her hollow. It wasn't hard to spot - it was higher and thicker than most trees in the neighbourhood. However, Crystal's hollow was the only one in that tree.

The female macaw landed on the branch, which let out a cracking sound as it bended under her weight. Blu, of course, heard the sound and looked at the entrance, seeing that Crystal has entered the hollow.

He spotted that she had a branch with Brazil nuts attached to it, secured in her beak. She has walked to the nest and put the branch on the floor. She has bitten off one nut and handed it to Blu, who accepted and opened it, starting to eat the nut's inside. The female was doing the same with her nut, as they kept eating in silence.

"So, Blu." Crystal has spoken suddenly, what literally has startled Blu, who has almost choked. "You didn't say anything about yourself, or even what happened that you have ended crashing into a tree. Will you enlighten it, maybe?" She asked, sounding a little bit suspicious, but Blu was busy with eating and he didn't notice it.

"Well, pretty much nothing to say," he replied while gulping the remainings of the nut. "I have come to get something for breakfast for my family, but the storm caught me."

"I'm pity. They must be worried about you." she said, as she looked at an empty nut shell to hide the gleam in her eyes.

"I'm sure they are. They have left a search party after me, probably." he replied while looking through the hollow entrance. "And you? How did you end up here?" he added.

"Basically nothing to say. I don't have any friends nor family."

"Are you sure? It's unlikely for a bird to live so alone, especially in that, unfriendly environment." he responded, looking at her strangely.

She must admit, this was sort of.. weird. Especially for a someone in her age. She was stunned, as it was first time she has thought about it in that way.

"Are you okay?" Blu asked, knowing that he has asked a wrong question.

"Yeah, I was just.. thinking about things, that's all. Anyways, it's a long story."

"I understand." he replied. "But why won't you come to our tribe? Everyone new there is greeted with a warm welcome," he said.

"A tribe? Really?" she has lifted her head, looking at Blu. He has noticed this strange hint in her eyes.

"Yes, we have a tribe." he said, giving her a suspicious look. "But I don't have any idea how to find it, because I have got myself lost and I crashed into a tree, as you know."


End file.
